There has been a lot of buzz recently about the need for more interactivity in eBooks – specifically, that they can't be "text only." Theoretically those with Kindles, Nooks, and iPads aren't going to buy traditional eBooks. At...

Developing documentation (both end-user and internal) in an Agile software development environment can present a few challenges, but overall presents many opportunities for technical communicators. Agile, by its nature, provides relatively short cycles...

In Doc-To-Help, you apply Styles to your Source documents so that your Target output will look and behave the way you prefer. That's one good reason to use them, but not the only one. Another very good reason is because Styles enforce consistency...

Those who adopt “green” lifestyles try to recycle and reuse as much as possible, preserving resources for future generations. By the nature of what we produce, Tech Comms can't create content that will last for generations to come, but we can create...

This is the final of a three part series called " How do you like to write? " This post focuses on the Doc-To-Help ribbon in Microsoft ® Word. This ribbon (or toolbar, depending on your version of Word) appears in all Word documents that are...

In my last post ( How do you like to write? ) I discussed how Doc-To-Help makes it simple for you to write a book, chapter by chapter — and still output high-quality, feature-rich, *logical* Help and web output, as well as attractive manual output. In...

With music blaring on your iPod? In a quiet corner? Actually, that's not where I'm going with this (although I admit I don't write and listen to music at the same time). I'm talking about something a little more fundamental. Do you like...

Just a quick laundry list of my upcoming talks about User Assistance ... hope to see you at one (or more) of these events! DocTrain West March 17-20 http://www.doctrain.com/west/ All-Around User Assistance:Delivering Layers of Information Efficiently...

I've recently written three new articles that you may find helpful and posted them to our knowledgebase, HelpCentral. HelpCentral also has videos, FAQs, and other helpful information. Here is a quick article overview ... If you would like to include...

It has finally stopped raining in Pittsburgh (for the moment) so I'm going to blog while the sun shines. I love the 'Burgh, but it does rain quite a bit in June. We have a large arts festival -- the Three Rivers Arts Festival -- that c oincides...

I’ve worked on a number of software products, and there were several that were ideal candidates for dynamically updating, embedded help – but since that sort of effort is usually software developer-intensive, I was never able to make it happen (not for...

Since I need to play a bit of catch up; a few updates and thoughts... Can't think of a better way to kick off summer camp than the STC Summit in Philly. (Full disclosure: I'm currently an STC Director At Large, but I've been attending the...

There are a number of tech comm blogs out there (the ones I keep up with are listed on my blogroll) but the cool thing is that they are all different, with different themes, perspective, and – probably most importantly – tone. Today, I’m adding my voice...